Day 17 Havana Cuba 2 April 2015 Cuba Day 4

Day 17  Havana Cuba     2 April 2015

Cuba Day 4

Let me take time out from our travels for some things we have picked up while here in Cuba

Our Blog follows on from this “trivia”

• Cuba has an unemployment rate of 3.5%.  That figure is the official government rate worked out on the basis of those out of work who want to work. It doesn’t include anyone who doesn’t want to work, is receiving a remittance from relatives overseas or on other benefits.
• Cuba has free elections, you vote every 2 ½ years for a local parliamentarian and every 5 years for a regional member. The electorate can at anytime move to have a fresh election for their member if they, as a majority, want to remove an elected member.  They have a One Party System.
• Cubans have free speech, within a designated framework, however you cannot say anything against the President, or the System in general, but you can voice discontent with your local elected officers and public servants.
• Cuba is slowly introducing an incentive program for those who work harder and are more productive.
• The Cuban Government controls/owns over 95% of all businesses in the country. In some industries, eg Restaurants, there are privately owned businesses who cater for wealthy/tourists. Many farmers are given land to work for a nominal lease fee and they get to sell their produce on an open market and then pay tax on their earnings.
• Cuba has a duel Currency system. The Cuban Peso for the nationals, with which they can buy heavily subsidised staples (mainly imports from Russia) and  the Convertable Peso (or CUC, pronounce Kook). The CUC is used for all other transactions and is highly sort after by the nationals. 1 CUC = 0.97 Euro = 1.15 USD , by my calculation that means that if you convert it all back to AUD it costs $1.46AUD / CUC using Euro or $1.50AUD/CUC using USD.
• Cuba is undergoing a massive renewal. The old building throughout the country, or the parts we  have visited, are  crumbling before your eyes. But there is an extensive effort being made to renovate large areas, particularly in Central and Old Havana.
• There are large numbers of 1950’s and 1960’s US cars on the road, most of which are used as Taxis.
• There are equally large numbers of Russian built Lada cars on the road, but these aren’t half as well looked after as the US cars and many look very worse for their age.
• The people are generally vibrant walking around the city.
• There doesn’t appear to be any real fixation on body image amongst the population. We haven’t seen any extremely thin people and its cool to wear skin tight clothes and let your belly shine through. But having said that, most people are what I would call a comfortable size, and I can’t recall seeing anyone that was morbidly obese.
• For westerners this is not an inexpensive place to visit, and with the country making significant moves to open up to the US, this will be amplified as the demand for services will outstrip supply.
• The food is plain, most nationals eat a standard diet of pork or chicken, potatoes, another local starchy veg and black beans and rice.   We had a vegetarian lunch yesterday much to the displeasure of the guide but especially the driver.   They like their meat.   The driver left very hungry.   There are not many vegetarian restaurants in Cuba (this one was for the tourists)  Most that set up close their doors soon after.
• Homosexuality is not a crime and Gay rights are being championed by Rual Castro’s  daughter.
• After school programs are in place to help educate children away from the use of drugs, criminality and antisocial behaviour.
• The health system is essentially free and prescription medicines are heavily subsidised. All GP clinics are walk-in, no appointment necessary.
• There are social services to assist with alcohol and drug dependency problems.
• Most people work for the government and earn about 25CUC a month working 8-5pm 5 days a week.  A family needs about 250CUC a month to live on comfortably.  (1 CUC is about $A1.50 )   They earn the rest illegally from private undeclared income, ie selling goods, cash jobs  in the black economy.
• The three main health issues facing Cuba are High Blood Pressure, Diabetes and Asthma.
• I have just remembered that we saw wild flamingos yesterday about 8 of them, that was a first for us and an unexpected delight as we didn’t see any in Galapagos. 
• Cars are about 30,000CUC each (second-hand) so most people don’t own a car as it costs about the same to buy an existing apartment (You can’t borrow money to buy an existing residence, but you can to build a new one)
• Our Australian phones do not work in Cuba.  Or our gmail emails.   The Internet is censored.
• The car we rode in yesterday, the 1958 Thunderbird had a fuel consumption of 25 litres per 100km’s!  No wonder they don’t make them like that anymore.
• Everyone must serve 3 years in the Army from age 18 (University students may be exempt from this but they have their civil service requirement)

We are learning a lot about Cuban Communism, there is a lot to take in.   This week feels like a real education, more than a holiday. But one we are enjoying.

And so ends the lecture.  🙂

 

Now back to touring.

 

Last nights’ dinner turned out to be a non-event. We waited in the foyer of our hotel for our driver, but when he hadn’t shown up by 8pm, I called our guide and informed him of the situation and got him to cancel the dinner and driver.

All was not lost, we got to have another sunset dinner on the rooftop of the hotel, another beautiful experience.

 

Now to begin today, Day 4 in Cuba and Day 17 of our holiday.

We were picked up at 9:30am sharp!!! 🙂

Victor, our guide, was very apologetic about the mix up last night and said the company wanted to give us a night out to make up for it. So we will try again tonight.

Today was about day to day Cuba, or more precisely, Central Havana.

Our first stop was the “Cayo Hueso” (Key West) quarter of central Havana.  We were met at the entrance to a bohemian alleyway by an older woman, Gladys, who explained that the alley had been setup as a local community and arts precinct by a local artist. It was also the centre of a local religion called “Santeria”. This woman was a “Babalwo” of the religion, a person who speaks for and about the religion (A Santerian priest) and also can teach others in its ways and induct people into it. The religion is a mix of several African religions, particularly Yoruba (originating from the slaves of the 1500’s) and Catholicism.   It is Cuba’s version of VooDoo. Deb felt very dark energy surrounding the area and was happy to leave. We also got a tour through a few houses and worship places by a local historian, who was very much into Santeria. The religion is full of dark symbolism, some animal sacrifice, effigies, magic(Black and white) and guiding deities. I still can’t figure how Catholicism fits in, but hey, maybe I missed something. 🙂

From there we walked to a school, where the education system was explained. All school children in the same year at school all over the country wear the same uniform, supplied by the government. There are schools for the gifted in the arts, sciences, literature and music, as well as schools dedicated to those with disabilities.

We visited a children’s centre, a place  where children are taught social skills and helped with any issues they may have. The centre was run by a very enthusiastic woman who worked tirelessly (and you could tell she was genuine) at her work with a real passion for what she was doing. The centre looked after 80 children a day in two sessions, as well as liaising with specific area professionals that donate their time to the centre.

We then walked over the road to a GP Clinic. It was strange, we walked through the front door straight into the doctors rooms while they had patients with them, no privacy here!! We had met the Doctor at the children’s centre, and she had given us a brief rundown on how the general health system worked. The guides pointed out the patient records, Pap smear results sheets and the general procedures that took place in the GP clinic, all the time while patients were being seen to by the doctors (2 doctors per room here! They see about 30-40 patients a day plus make about 8 – 10 house calls). Rather than staying in hospitals, most patients are discharged to recover at home from about 48hrs after their procedure.

It was a lot to take in, I am sure I have some of this all mixed up, or just plain wrong, but you get the idea (I hope).

We then went to Paladar La Guardia for lunch, it is billed as one of the hardest places to get a table at in Havana. It was the location used for a “Famous” Cuban Gay coming-out film, “Fresa y Chocolate” (Strawberries and Chocolate) nominated for an Oscar in 1992. It goes that even the Queen of Spain has eaten there.

We had an upmarket traditional Cuban meal, which was the best (the most flavour) we have had yet at any of the places we have visited.   Most Cuban’s can not afford to eat here. Our guide and driver always eat with us, on other tours sometimes the guide would but never the driver.    We have enjoyed their company.    Our driver Aleksander does not speak English but our guide, Victor, is helpful with translation.

And that was the end of the days touring. Time to relax for a while and a walk around the Capitol building area.

In the evening we were taken to Palader Le Chansonnier Restaurant . It was a 10 minute drive from our hotel tucked away in a well to do suburb. It was very classy, welcomed by black attired doormen and ushered to our choice of table by a delightful waitress. We chose to sit outside, but inside may have been a better choice (there was a bit of street noise). We started our night with Daiquiris, Deb had a Strawberry and I had a Papaya.  They were delicious.  For entre Deb had Spiced Seafood and I had Eggplant and Octopus. Both were tasty but we questioned the cheese shell around the seafood? For mains, Deb had Lobster and I had Rabbit. Both were very tasty but the lobster was slightly overdone and my rabbit had too much Marsala sauce on it. Don’t get me wrong the food was very good, but just fell short, it rated up there with anything we have had in Cuba.

After a short ride back to the hotel we packed ready for our next move. Tomorrow we head South East to Trinidad, stopping along the way to take in some significant sights.

Our thoughts are with Deb’s Uncle Cliff and Uncle Ron, who are both doing it tough at the moment.

Our next blog will probably be posted when we get back from Trinidad, Cuba, the net is worse there!!!

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